The place to find past issues of the Your Next Book newsletter
– my take on some of the outstanding writing on my bookshelf

​​Sometimes you just want a light read, well enough written with a setting that’s interesting and a story that moves nicely from A to B. You are happy to have stock characters and some nice descriptions. Along comes A Necessary Death,

I love statues. I love them because they put beauty and dignity in public spaces, because they become playgrounds for children, because they tell stories and also because most people don’t care about the stories. They live just their lives around the statues that provide their spaces with height and focus.

Duet for One is a tightly written book. It is deceptively simple in its structure and not long, only 200 pages, but layered with motifs and themes and a distinct tune for each character. Like a piece of music.